Volgograd police search for offensive chat organizers

Police in Volgograd have begun searching for the administrators and creators of an anonymous Telegram channel that contained insults and threats against schoolchildren. Law enforcement confirmed the registration of a statement from the legal representative of one of the minors.

The existence of a chat called «Freaks of Volgograd» was reported by Volgograd animal rights activist Alina Yerina. She discovered that her own son was among those featured in the channel.

«It turns out there is a Telegram channel with an audience of over five thousand people, where they post personal photos and data of children, insult them with obscenities, and call for violence against these children and teenagers,» said Alina Yerina. «Information about my child ended up there, and I found out about it. We would like to bring this to light and sort out the situation. What is happening is terrible. These are all children from our city.»

Widespread screenshots from the chat show photographs of teenagers accompanied by obscene descriptions and direct calls to commit violent acts against them.

Parents of the affected children planned to file a collective statement with the police demanding to find and hold the channel«s author accountable. Also, corresponding requests were sent to the main directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) for Volgograd Region and to the territorial office of Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media). Roskomnadzor, having considered the received complaint, sent a demand to Telegram to remove personal data.

In the police response, it is stated: «In police department No. 7 of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) for Volgograd, verification materials have been registered based on the statement from the legal representative of a minor. Currently, a set of measures is being carried out aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the incident. Upon completion of the verification, a decision will be made in accordance with the legislation.»